Waste Management Beats Analyst Estimates on EPS

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Waste Management (NYS: WM) filed its 10-K on Feb. 16. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), Waste Management beat slightly on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue grew, and GAAP earnings per share dropped.

Margins contracted across the board.

Revenue details
Waste Management recorded revenue of $3.41 billion. The seven analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ wanted to see sales of $3.36 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 6.9% higher than the prior-year quarter's $3.19 billion.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
Non-GAAP EPS came in at $0.63. The nine earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ anticipated $0.61 per share on the same basis. GAAP EPS of $0.58 for Q4 were 1.7% lower than the prior-year quarter's $0.59 per share.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 37%, 210 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 17.1%, 130 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 7.8%, 100 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $3.18 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.40.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $13.77 billion. The average EPS estimate is $2.29.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a five-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 2,529 members rating the stock outperform and 54 members rating it underperform. Among 674 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 665 give Waste Management a green thumbs-up, and nine give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Waste Management is hold, with an average price target of $36.19.

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At the time thisarticle was published Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. The Motley Fool owns shares of Waste Management. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of and creating a write covered strangle position in Waste Management. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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